Latest news with #MilwaukeeJournal-Sentinel
Miami Herald
30-06-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Reports: Bucks F Bobby Portis agrees to 3-year, $44M contract
Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis has declined his player option and will sign a three-year, $44 million contract to stay with the team, multiple media outlets reported on Sunday. Portis, 30, had until Sunday to decide on the player option worth $13.4 million. The new deal includes a player option in the final season of 2027-28, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported. Portis averaged 13.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists in only 49 games (seven starts) last season, when the NBA suspended him 25 games without pay for violating the league's anti-drug policy. The NBA said Portis tested positive for the drug Tramadol, a medication used to treat severe pain among adults. Portis' agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports, told ESPN that his client confused Tramadol with an approved pain medication called Toradol. Portis has averaged 13.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 339 regular-season games (99 starts) over five seasons in Milwaukee, where he has been a valued reserve voted third for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in both 2023 and 2024. He also was a member of the Bucks' league championship squad in 2021. For his career, Portis is averaging 12.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 654 regular-season games (153 starts) for the Chicago Bulls (2015-19), Washington Wizards (2019), New York Knicks (2019-20) and Bucks (2020-present). --Field Level Media Field Level Media 2023 - All Rights Reserved
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jailed Wisconsin Man Fooled ICE Barbie With Forged Death Threats Against Trump
A Milwaukee man awaiting trial on criminal robbery charges had an interesting defense strategy: framing one of his victims for threatening to murder President Trump. On Monday, Demetric D. Scott, 42, who was already in jail on charges of armed robbery and aggravated battery, was charged with witness intimidation, identity theft, and bail jumping after police discovered he'd forged several letters threatening the president's life under the name of Ramón Morales-Reyes. Scott admitted to police that he'd forged the letters not because he had any interest in harming the president, but because he'd hoped they would lead to the deportation of Morales-Reyes, who was set to testify at his upcoming robbery trial. Scott was arrested in 2023 after being captured on a Ring camera stabbing Morales-Reyes with a corkscrew while attempting to steal his bike, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported. The phony letters already made national headlines when DHS Secretary Kristi Noem publicly celebrated the arrest of Morales-Reyes, despite police quickly expressing suspicion that the letters had been forged. According to Milwaukee police, on May 21, the offices of the Wisconsin Attorney General, Milwaukee Police Chief, and Milwaukee ICE headquarters each received handwritten letters signed in Morales-Reyes' name and with his home listed as the return address, containing threats against the president's life. The letters read in part, 'I will self deport myself back to Mexico, but not before I use my 30 yard 6 [rifle] to shoot your precious president in his head—I will see him at one of his big ralleys.' The following day, on May 22, police arrested Morales-Reyes, 54. He was quickly transferred into DHS custody due to his undocumented status. The arrest earned praise from Noem, who wrote, 'Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars.' However, Milwaukee police weren't certain they had the right man. Not only did a handwriting test quickly reveal that Morales-Reyes' penmanship didn't match the letters, but they also discovered he is not fluent in English. When asked if someone may have a motive to frame him for the crime, Morales-Reyes mentioned his plans to testify against Scott. Upon further investigation, police discovered that Scott had made explicit plans to forge and mail the letters in recorded jail phone calls dating back nearly a month, NBC News reported. In one call, made five days before the letters were received, Scott said, 'This dude is a goddamn illegal immigrant and they just need to pick his ass up… if he gets picked up by ICE, there won't be a jury trial, so they will probably dismiss it that day. That's my plan.' Since his arrest, Scott has had a pattern of mischievous letter-writing. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in an August 2024 letter to Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Kristy Yang, the judge presiding over his case, Scott had threatened to turn her courtroom 'into a circus,' adding, 'This case will never make it to jury trial.' After Morales-Reyes identified Scott as a suspect in the forgery, police searched his jail cell, finding a pen matching the ink used in the letters, an envelope, and a note Scott had written reminding himself to find out the address of the attorney general's office. Scott eventually confessed during police questioning on May 30. However, Morales-Reyes remains in ICE custody at Dodge County Jail in Juneau, Wisconsin, and is now facing removal proceedings. Responding to initial reports that the letters were forged, a senior official from the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Beast last week that Morales-Reyes will remain in custody because he was 'determined to be in the country illegally and [has] a criminal record.' According to a DHS press release, Morales-Reyes has previously been arrested for felony hit and run, criminal damage to property, and disorderly conduct with a domestic abuse modifier. The press release also claimed Morales-Reyes entered the U.S. illegally nine times between 1998 and 2005. Morales-Reyes' attorney, Kime Abduli, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that because he is still a witness in Scott's robbery trial, which is set for July 14, Morales-Reyes is in the process of applying for a U-visa, which allows undocumented immigrants to remain in the country if they are testifying in a criminal case.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
2 University Students Found Dead From Gunshot Wounds Days After Graduation
Two University of Wisconsin-Platteville students were found dead from gunshot wounds in a campus residence hall on Monday, just days after the school's commencement ceremony, university officials say. The university police department revealed Tuesday that the students were Kelsie Martin of Beloit, Wisconsin, who died from a gunshot wound after being transported to a hospital, and Hallie Helms of Baraboo, Wisconsin, who died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, preliminary autopsies showed. Both women were 22. 'No other subjects are suspected to have been involved in the incident,' a university statement said Tuesday. 'Further investigation continues around the circumstances surrounding the death of the two individuals.' UW-Platteville Police Chief Joe Hallman said his department received a 911 call around 4 p.m. local time Monday about an incident at Wilgus Hall, a residential building on campus. Upon arrival, they determined it was an 'isolated incident' that posed no 'active, ongoing threat,' he said at a press conference. Martin was the assistant resident director at Wilgus Hall, where Helms was a resident. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that Martin had just graduated summa cum laude with a degree in psychology, and Helms had just graduated magna cum laude with an elementary education degree. A Facebook post from the university last year praised Martin as a 'growing leader and role model for young women on campus' who owned more than 400 books. In an archived personal website uncovered by the Journal-Sentinel, Helms discussed her teaching aspirations. 'I want to be the teacher who had helped, counseled, and inspired change,' she wrote. 'I want to change students for the better.' The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say suicide is one of the leading types of gun deaths in the U.S., accounting for more than 20,000 deaths a year. There were more than 600 murder-suicides in the U.S. last year. Rapper Convicted For Shooting Megan Thee Stallion Stabbed In Prison Teen Accused Of Killing 4 In Georgia School Shooting Likely To Plead Guilty Eric Church Says Las Vegas Shooting 'Broke' Him
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wisconsin is Cutting State Funding for Child Care. Providers are Taking a Stand.
On Monday, child care providers across the country participated in the fourth annual Day Without Child Care, closing their doors and gathering to demand a better child care system with more public dollars. In Wisconsin, some providers may remain closed for quite a while longer, according to Corrine Hendrickson, owner of a family child care program in Wisconsin, and one of the organizers of a prolonged protest — dubbed 'State Without Child Care' — which intends to push back against the state legislature's cuts to essential child care funding. While direct actions — a form of activism that uses strikes or public demonstrations — by child care providers remain relatively rare in the U.S., it may be an increasingly important arrow in the quiver when fighting for the system children, parents and providers need and deserve. At issue in Wisconsin is the fate of the state's child care stabilization fund, known as Child Care Counts. Wisconsin is one of six states that doesn't fund child care, relying instead entirely on inadequate federal funding. That temporarily changed during the pandemic, when providers began receiving regular payments through Child Care Counts that allowed them to maintain operations and kept parent fees from spiking. With these pandemic funds drying up, Gov. Tony Evers proposed $442 million over two years to continue the fund, but last week the Republican-controlled joint finance committee voted to zero out the child care money. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter If this funding ends, there will be massive consequences for children, families and providers, which is one reason providers are engaging in such an unprecedented action. As the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported, 'A quarter of child care providers are more likely to close without further funding from Child Care Counts, and those that remain could be forced to raise their rates, according to a survey released April 10 by the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families.' This does not appear to be hyperbolic: funding reductions to Child Care Counts over the past few years have already caused providers to increase fees and to have more difficulty hiring qualified staff. Providers have seemingly had enough. Hendrickson stated in a press release that, 'While politicians negotiate over our funding and our lives, Wisconsin working families are once again left without. We've done everything we were told to do. We called. We showed up. We shared our stories. And still, lawmakers voted to cut child care from the budget. No plan. No replacement. No respect. We've had enough and we are drawing the line.' Providers across the state began protest actions in Madison on Tuesday, May 13, and according to Hendrickson, some will remain closed until the legislature guarantees they'll restore the child care funding. Single day child care protests are increasingly common. These have been seen in Australia and Ireland, and they have proven useful at garnering media attention — in fact, the 2020 Irish protest is credited with making child care a major campaign issue that year. These have also occurred regionally in the U.S.; for example, in Connecticut in 2022, providers organized a 'Morning Without Child Care,' which became a landmark event that sparked other communities to follow suit via the now national Day Without Child Care. The Wisconsin protest sets itself apart from these one-day actions though, in that the intention is sustaining activism until the state legislature meets a specific demand. Perhaps the most notable modern example of a sustained child care work stoppage comes from Germany. In 2015, German child care staff across the country went on strike for four weeks to protest their low wages, marking one of the nation's largest post-reunification labor actions and making international headlines. (The strike ended with a modest salary increase.) Similarly, in 2004, Scotland saw a strike of 5,000 child care educators that dragged on, in some localities, for more than three months. One structural element that has made direct child care actions in the U.S. less common than in other nations is the fact that there is less government involvement to begin with. Both German and Scottish child care workers are largely hired by — and have their wages set by — municipalities, and most workers belong to a labor union. In the highly privatized and fragmented American system, there is little unionization and the divisions between employers and employees can be fuzzier; in fact, in many cases it is the owners of U.S. child care programs that are protesting. However, both Connecticut and now Wisconsin have been able to tie their demands to state legislative action, with the presence or lack of state funds for child care acting as a sort of stand-in for collective bargaining. That said, the Wisconsin providers face challenges ahead. While the movement has received support from the community organizing group Community Change, the providers are not unionized. There is no standing strike fund, and for programs operating on thin margins, every day the doors are closed poses a significant loss of revenue. And of course, the participants would much rather be providing care and learning to the children in their programs. Participating in sustained closures is emotionally fraught. For early educators, it's difficult to deprive families of a vital service they rely on. For families who will feel the impact, it's expected that reactions will vary, but looking at Connecticut as an example, parents made it clear that given the choice between a temporary stoppage and permanent closure, reduced quality, or unaffordable fee hikes, they will generally stand alongside their child care providers. Child care providers in the U.S. have long advocated passionately for more support, but have rarely engaged in prolonged protests. In Wisconsin, we're about to find out whether sustained activism is a tool that can sway policymakers.
International Business Times
14-05-2025
- Politics
- International Business Times
Hannah Dugan: Wisconsin Judge Indicted for Trying to Help Illegal Immigrant 'Evade Arrest' by ICE Agents after He Was Accused of Beating Victim
A Wisconsin judge accused of helping an illegal immigrant evade immigration enforcement was indicted by a federal jury on Tuesday. Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested and put in handcuffs while still wearing her black judicial robe last month after being accused of obstructing justice and hiding Mexican national Eduardo Flores-Ruiz from federal authorities following a pre-trial hearing. The high-profile arrest sparked severe backlash from Democrats, while the Department of Justice stood by its actions against the veteran judge. According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the indictment was issued on Tuesday after a hearing that lasted the entire day. On Tuesday, the judge's fate was almost sealed after her indictment. Bearing the Brunt of Her Mistakes Dugan was initially charged with hiding a person to prevent his arrest and with obstructing justice. The grand jury found sufficient probable cause to allow the case to move forward. Following her arrest late last month, she was temporarily relieved of her judicial duties. After the latest development, her legal team issued a brief statement, stressing that Dugan continues to maintain her innocence and is confident she will be cleared in court. Dugan is set to enter a plea on Thursday. Prosecutors say that on April 18, Flores-Ruiz, 30, appeared before Dugan to face three misdemeanor charges related to a fight in March. During that hearing, Dugan allegedly tried to help him evade federal agents. According to the prosecution, once she learned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were present in the courthouse searching for Flores-Ruiz, she led him and his attorney out through a jury door in the back of her courtroom. Daredevil Stunt Costs Her a Lot According to an affidavit, Dugan and another judge approached federal agents inside the courthouse at one point, engaging in what was described as a "confrontational" exchange. Dugan reportedly told the agents to take the matter up with the chief justice. After returning to her courtroom, she allegedly escorted Flores-Ruiz through a restricted exit typically used by court staff, jurors, and defendants already in custody, the documents claim. At the time, Flores-Ruiz was out on a signature bond. He was eventually caught outside the courthouse following a brief foot chase. His legal issues, which brought him before Dugan, began in mid-March when he allegedly assaulted another man by punching and choking him during an argument. He also reportedly hit a woman who tried to intervene, according to a police report. Court records indicate that Flores-Ruiz had previously been deported in 2013 and unlawfully reentered the United States. Dugan has been on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court since at least 2016 and was re-elected in 2022. Her current term will be ending in August 2028. Dugan's arrest came just a day after former Doña Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano and his wife, Nancy Cano, were detained during a Thursday raid on their home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The couple now face charges of evidence tampering after allegedly harboring an illegal immigrant, identified as suspected Venezuelan gang member Christhian Ortega-Lopez, at their home.
